Va. residents reeling at news of Boston suspect’s burial

WASHINGTON – Residents and local government leaders are reeling after finding out that the Boston bombing suspect was buried in their county in Virginia.

Jessica Moore lives in Caroline County, about 25 miles north of Richmond, where Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev was buried in a Muslim cemetery. Moore worries that those visiting his gravesite will make him into some kind of martyr.

“People of that same philosophy that he has being attracted to his grave as a shrine,” says Moore.

She is a Christian and believes it is the duty of the living to bury the dead, but she also worries that people who think like Tsarnaev will be attracted to his grave like a shrine.

“I prefer that he not be buried on American soil,” she says, since he had so much disdain for America. “He should have been returned to his homeland.”

Floyd Thomas, chairman of Caroline County’s Board of Supervisors, says he learned about the burial after it had already happened, and that the county may not have any legal recourse.

“We don’t want the county to be known at the resting place for the remains for someone who committed a terrible crime,” says Thomas.

Caroline County Sheriff Tony Lippa says he has put extra security in place at the Muslim cemetery where Tsarnaev is buried and that the location of the grave has become a public safety concern now.